1976: Although Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne had been noodling around in Jobs' garage for a while, this marks Apple Computer's official founding date. (It was later incorporated on Jan. 3, 1977.) Apple was founded to sell the hand-built Apple I personal computer set, which was priced at the then-princely sum of $666.66. Wayne later sold his interest in Apple to the two Steves and faded into tech obscurity.
Apple is noteworthy for introducing both the graphical user interface and mouse to the personal computer, earning it a reputation for "user friendliness" that it enjoys to this day. The company has had its shares of ups and downs over the years, perhaps the major downer being blamed on the decision not to license Apple products to outside vendors, a tactic that chief rival Microsoft eagerly embraced to tremendous advantage.
Nevertheless, Apple has always been associated with quality and aesthetics in a way that Microsoft hasn't, and the company's fortunes have bounced back nicely in recent years, mainly on the strength of its Powerbook laptops, OS X operating system, iTunes music library, iPod music player and, most recently, the iPhone.
In an industry with a surfeit of gurus, visionaries and geniuses, Steve Jobs enjoys nearly mythic status. With Woz -- the true geek of the outfit -- gone from the scene, Jobs is the face of Apple and he reaps the lion's share of the credit for reviving the company after some very lean years in the mid-'90s. Since returning to run Apple in 1997, he has presided over the introduction of the iMac (1998), and, in the watershed year of 2001, a complete overhaul of the operating system, the opening of Apple's first retail store and the introduction of the iPod.
(Source: Various)
